short term course vs degree? 1yr vs 2yr

hello ppl….I’m karthik, from India….i’ve done my bacheolars in commnication but always had a softcorner towards VFX and post production of movies…
Now ‘ve decided to take up VFX as my career i’ve lot of things goin through my mind, may be this is the right place to pose them
1.I’ve a degree so not looking for one more in Vfx but want to learn from a good institute in India or abroad,

if u can suggest some good ones in India….

by my research i got to know VFS offers one yr power packed course(expensive),
so is lostboys (46 weeks)(lesser than VFS),
escape studios around 12 weeks(costly for such a short time but even its power paked),
Academy of Art(if ur a graduate then u can have second bacheolars for two yrs –lesser then VFS)
n most other are offering degree course which i cant do now…
so a maximum of 2yrs is wat ‘m looking at…..so among these which one is worth the money?? and has placement opportunities….being an international student ‘ve look into stay, fee as well for placement so post ur suggestions
(looking for both students and industry insiders suggestions pls help)

2. My experience in this field is nill in the sense ‘d done basics of animation like ball bounce,walk cycle , dog fight etc and nothing related to Vfx till now…but standards here are low so planning to study in a good inst…
so do u want me to learn few things regarding this in India b4 flying abroad since most in those classes have yrs of experience in the field..
"m still very new to this field so should i jump into these schools right away ? can i cope up?? or do some course over here then plan of going to these schools???

3. How far does the knowledge of art helps u in this field??

4.I’m learning MEL on my own…so far will that be helpful??

hoping to get some replys:thumbsup:

open nuke scripts

hello
I did search for answers and read the manual and user guide, followed it thoroughly, but still I can not open nuke scripts.
I am using nuke 6 and when I ( crtl + o) and locate a nk script, I get this error message: no such file or directory
any help or advice??
thanx

1996 Homemade Toy Commercial

I made this tank toy in 1996 and made a commercial for it. What do you guys think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DLzHypKWBI

Can someone identify this effect?

In the end of the following music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5uq03BdxyQ there is a effect at 4:54 i can’t identify, it looks like fast scrolling white graffiti going vertically. I have seen it in a few music video’s now, mostly hiphop, but i cannot find any reference to how this effect was created. My guess is a videolayer on top going at 300% speed with a high opacity. But i think it can also be done with a generator as i’ve seen it in a few video’s now. Anyone on the board that recognizes the effect, technique?

Shake file out node help

I am beginner with shake. I have done a comp and am trying to render out the final mov as 1280 by 720 but any time i render it out, it dose it in the default settings which is too small than what i wont. can someone help me with the right way of setting this up. Thanks:cool:

reflection pass issue

Hi
I’m currently working on a small nCloth project where a piece of cloth falls on a table, I currently am setting up my passes for rendering. However I turn my image plane off for composting,and do a render of my reflection pass it will not render. I turned down my shadow mask down to white, and put my specular turned to white, and put my reflectivity to my liking. I am able to see it in the alpha,but not in the RGB, also for some reason I can’t turn off my shadows, which I have a separate layer for that. The lights I am using are two to three directional and an area. I’m currently using maya 2010, but I am not using the new render pass setup that was introduced in the previous version, because I am more comfortable with the old way.
Thanks

compositing reel

Hey Everyone,

I just updated my compositing reel as I am graduating from scad in a couple weeks. Check it out:

on my website: http://www.sandroblattner.com/reel.html

or on vimeo: http://www.vimeo.com/10852187

Any feedback will be appreciated and please let me know if you have issues viewing the reel under any configuration.

thanks!

Attached Thumbnails

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problems on grouping nodes

Hi all!
I’m experiencing troubles with a very simple group creation:

attached file "v001.nk" has an animated change between 2 images (20 frames of horizontal slide using a mask)

If you group the nodes into the backdrop (ctrl+G) and changes the inputs the output does not refresh (file "v002.nk"). If you open the group the inner viewer works well.

Does anybody knows how can I fix this??

Thank you very much!

Attached Files
File Type: nk v001.nk (2.8 KB)
File Type: nk v002.nk (3.1 KB)

The Return of John Frum

John Frum, Cargo cult messiah, returns in a post industrial wasteland and embarks in a trip beyond logic and meaning. Short film by Christian Schlaeffer.

Help with fire and smoke

Hi FX artists..i have created a dynamic animation of a fireball crashing on the earth..i’m unable to create fire and smoke.. pls help..i’ve attached the .ma file..

Attached Files
File Type: rar fireball.rar (32.6 KB)